Water gas generator



June 9, 1931. A, G, GLASG5W 1,809,333

lWATER GAS GENERATOR F'led Feb'. 18, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet l .45m/MEV.

June 9, 1931. f A. G. eL-Assow 1,809,333

WATER G AS GENERATOR y Filed Feb. 18, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 4 I /7 l2 13 J Mm /6 1j ma Patented June 9, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT voFFlcnf.

ARTHUR G. GLASGOW, 0F LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR T0 THE G. I. GONTRACTING OOMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE i WATER GAS GENERATOR applicati@ nlearebruary 1s, 1925. serial, No. aaasfana in Great Britain June 1s, 1924.

i 'This invention relates .to self-clinkering connection with gas producers furmshed with mechanical grates, to facilitate the removal Y of clinker by substituting a -water-cooled jacket for the critical portion of the usual {irebrick lining containing the fuel bed; but, b econnection with water gas generators, and,

^ in gas producers7 an annular steam boiler surrounding the Whole of the fuel-bed, Vand utilized for the now suggested as a substitute for the unsatisfactory water jacket, Such an arrangement requires a design of boiler badly adapted to withstandy the usual working steam pressures, and, in addition to 1 .top of the fuel be'd is reduced below the ready fore the air blowing period must be wastefully prolonged in order to secure the proper regulation of temperature in the oil-gasifyingchambers. v v T The object of this present invention is to provide a safe and eflicient self-clinkering and self-steaming water gas generator wherein there is no manuallabor for barring down or clinkering, nor anylossofcooling water or of heat therein, kwhile the means of automatically attaining these endssimultaneously provide the cause of the ineiliciency and inefectiveness` of this method, it has -been abandoned in y usual plant steam supply, is

-the economicl use y lgnition point of secondary combustion ap- 4- l proximately 950 F. to 1,100o F., and theregenerator with low pressure. steam suitable for the generatlon of thew'ater gas but not in excess ofthe requirements of the generator? l To this end, I have by convincing trials determined, in the first place, how adeep fuel bed confined within an annular metal vessel vutilized as a steam boiler can be adapted to the production of water gas so that the clinker neither adheres to the wall of the generator nor archesover the grate, but travelsevenly yto the bottom of the fuel bed, thus providing uniformly eiiicient condition of the fuel bed while eliminating barring down of the lire from above; secondly, I have by further t trials demonstrated how all of the clinker and alh, instead of accumulating at the bottom of. t e uously discharged with low carbon content a'sthey reach the bottom, thus constantly maintaining'the fuel bed in the condition of high gas-making efficiency while eliminating clinkering and clearing labor and clinkering doors and tools., as well as interruption of gasmaking; and thirdly, I' have `discovered 'and corroborated by continued experiment how a water gas generator and a safe lowfuel bed, can be automatically and continpressure steamdgenerator -can be combined so that the steam space is never in contact vwith the fuel bed or blast or water gases, the production of steam does not exceed that needed forthe. generator (thus permitting of verylo'w pressures,) and the temperature of the top of the fuel bed is not reduced below that necessaryfor ready lignition of the issuing blast gases, all without` any interference whatever with the eliciency of the automatic self-clinkering, operations.` According to thep'resent invention, in order to provide a self-clinkering and substantiall ly self-steaming water gas generator, there is embodied in the generator .a steam boiler comprising anl annular water vessel surrounding a portion of the fuel-bed, the location area and surface of its inner wall being adapted to the methods of airblasting and steaming and to the character of the fuel,v so'that the clinker and ashes can be contin-l uously discharged from )the generator by mechanical means while extracting not more heat from the generator than is needed to produce the steam required'by the generator orl as will reduce the temperature of the isi" suing blast' gases below that required f or ready ignition for utilization. The said 1nner wall of the annular water vessel is suf-` ficiently high to prevent adhesion of clinker to the wall, but so restricted in height that the absorption of heat fromthe generator does o not exceed that needed for the production of the steam required by the generator.

The boiler, of which this water vessel forms the heated water space is provided with meansfor collecting the steam produced and conducting it to the generator in the required quantity and preferably at a low pressure,

i and the generator yis provided with a mechanically actuated grate which removes the clinker which it is able to do as the Water vessel by preventing adhesion of clinker to the generator Wall ensures the clinker and ash regularly passing to and being removed byi the ate.

present invention also includes certain provisions hereinafter referred to for ren-v dering a generator embodying such a boiler and a mechanically actuated grate more ef fectively and easily operated.

In the accompanying drawin s,

`Fig,'1lshows in central vertlcal sectionl a self-clinkering and substantially self-steaming water gas generator according to the invention. r

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the lower part of a modified form of Water gas generator.

Figs. 3 and 4 are diagrammatic elevational x views hereinafter referred to. j

` or more conduits d with the upperv part of the annular vessel a in 'such manner that the Referring to Fig. 1, the annular vessel a'- which surroundsthe fuel bed and `provides all of the heating surface for steam generasteam evolved 'escapes into the steam reservoir without hurtfully exposing the face or top of the annular water vessel to overheatlng, which is accomplished by upwardly and outwardly `in'clining the top wall a1 of the f annular vessel at'such an angle to the horizonta-l that the outside of the annular water vessel 1s suiciently higher thanjits inside to enable the said connections to be made and tooperate without displacing the water content from' suiiiclent contact with the inside and top plates of the heated annulus to prevent over-heating of the metal. Adequate circulation of the steaming water is secured by one or more connections e between the lower part of the steam and water reservoir land the lower part of the annular water vessel a; All of these connections are preferably utilized to sustain the reservoir without any other support. The above described annular boiler is carried by legs (of which one is shown at f) columns, framework or other supports resting on the ground or other foundation, and within the circle of these supports the grate structure, comprising an upper portion g and circular bottom k, rotates about a 4vertical axisupon and guided by rollers z' and j, slides, or the like, and carries the weight of the fuel bed, quite independently of the boiler supports.. The upper portion of the grate containing the air-passages is approximately conical in form, and covers a cylinder placed eccentrically as regards the annular ,boiler and a central conduit cwhich serves to conduct the air blast or steamfto the grate and to carry away the down run water gas. The up run water gas is led olf through opening 30 in the fire-brick wall b. .The eccentric rotation of the upper portiong and its supporting 'cylinder crushes and expels the clinker and ash. For the down run steam, is

admitted at 102. For the uprun steam is admitted at 103. For the up airblast, lairis admitted at 1 4. These connections are supplied with Va ves lso that air and steam can` be admitted inalternation. 105 indicates the outlet for down run blue water gas.

In one form the1 cylinder g1 of the revolving grate is attached to or forms part of an annular pan or trough k1 containing water in which a cylindrical apron Z depending from the annular vessel a is sealed outside the circle ofthe grate cylinderd g1, and an extension or outwardly and downwardly exl tending lip m of the. central Vconduit is sealedl within vthe circle ofthe grate cylinder g1.

y The pan or trough h1 is shown provided with a worm Wheel 1 .which is engaged by a worm 2 driven through gearing 3 from anv electric motor 4,l but other driving mechanism` mayl be used. The clinker and ash are continuously pushed under the outer sealed apron l by the eccentric motion of the grate cylinder and are brought to the surface of the water and deposited where required by means described later herein, the speed atwhich the powerdriven grate cylinder revolves being regulated as required t0 extract and discharge the clinker and ash as from time to time.`

To protect the critical portion of the inner wall .of the annular'vessel a from the wear due to the constant crushing yof the clinker, the lower part of the plate forming the'inner wall of said vessel'isl joggled as shown and a renewable wearing strip az iS may be desired scribed with reference inset into this portion of the boiler so thaty it does not form a ledge or lodging place from which the clinker can build out into the cross ,l

conduit k or to therotating grate sweeps' into the central conduit, from which they can ashes that may work through the air spaces in the grate.

Where double water seals are adopted to provide for the rotation of the` rate and the continuous expulsion 'of the c inker as deto the apron Z and lip m, these seals are connected by a passage o at or near the bottom and a visible supply of 'water for the maintenance of both seals is introduced through inner seal whence it as required to of water in the seals. The less accessible inner seal is deeper than the outer seal and the a pipe p to the hidden flows to the outer seal inner wall ha of the annular pa'n or trough v generator water would have to closed or covered portion of the is higher than 'tsy outer wall so that only the outer seal need be supervised. Owing to the eccentricity of the grate and its supporting cylinder, the obvious simple method of construction would result in the outer leg of the inner seal being much larger in capacity than the inner leg, so that, to prevent overflowing of the inner leg of the inner seal when an increase of pressure takes lace in the ow through the passage o from theinner to the outer seal more'quickly than is practicable. This trouble is overcome by providing the eccentrically rotating cylinder g1 with the lining g2 to suliciently equalize the capacities of the two legs.

-In order thatthe eective depth of the.

water seal may be indicated continuously 'throughout the working of the plant, two

gauges indicated' at g and 1' (preferablylocated side by 'side' on the operating lfloor) are adapted to respond respectively to the levelgor` the uexposed .or uncovered portion of the water seal and to the pressure on thel enwater seal.

The gauge `q indicating the water levelmay conveniently be made to respond tothe level of the seal by 'an air pipe q1 dipping into the water seal below the range of its working level with its other end connected to the gauge i g, air under pressure (say from the generator e through the water blast supply) being allowed to pass'slowly into the pipe g1 and escape at its open end above the open end .of the pipe varies the The 'dilerence in the levels shown by the two pressure inthe air pipe will vary correspondingly and the gauge g, thus caused to indicate the water level. The gauge r is connected by the pipe v1" to the central conduit c so that it is subject to the pressure in the generator.

gauges q and r will represent'the height of water inside the sealing apron l above its maintain the right quantity seal; as the head of w'ater,

lower edge and the general water levels innot the water in the seal is suliicient to afford the maximum depth of seal. y c

` Beneath the several rollers z', which preferably are employed to support the ashpan grate and fuel bed, are provided supports in the form of studs s of which only one is shown in Figure 1 and which to leave a determined clearance between each support and its roller and are adapted, should the roller journals or bearings give way, to uphold the rollers ,in approximately their normal positions and thus prevent the plant being damaged or stopped,.the grate instead of turning the rollers sliding over them, until such time as repairs can beA conveniently effected.

To maintain the speed of extraction of the clinker and ash will keep the fuel bed in the most elicient condition while safeguarding all parts of the grate from damage due to excessive heat, the speed of rotation lot' the grate (which determines the speed at which the clinker and ash are expelled and the hot lire descends) is regulated, cally or by hand, in accordance with the temperature indicated, say during the downv run, bya p rometer suitably located beneath the grate or instance in the conduit lc at w, o r the pyrometer or an electric'device similarly situated may stop the grate if the too rapid discharge of theV clinker and ash raises the temperature of the grate beyond the desired limit.

are adjustable so as Y either automatibe adapted automatically to' -and bottom to suit the requirements of various fuels and working conditions of the generator isobtained by means o any suitable variable speed mechanism; for example, a variable speed motor, or a set' of change gears, or a rocking ratchet or free wheell grip motion (the throw of the rocker movement being regulated by means of pin or an adjustable eccentric), or a combination of two or more such mechanisms may be employed.

Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate diagrammatically by way of example one arrangement for automatically regulating the speed of rotation of the grate in accordance with the temperature beneath the grate. In this case the circuitof the shunt coils of the motor 4 includes a variable. resistance 20, a conducting bridge 21 and the arm or needle 22 of a galvanometer 23 which is included in the circuit of a thermocouple or pyrometer at w (Fig. 1). The arm or needle 22 is normally held down on the resistance 20 and bridge 21 by a bar 24 carried by a lever 25 but to allow the arm or needle 22 to take up the temperature to which the thermo-couple or pyrometer is subject, the lever 25 is periodically rocked by means position corresponding to the actuated by the motor an adjustable crank L coils being broken,

and the arm or needle 22 thus released. As this would result in the circuit of the shunt a finger 26 carried by but insulated from the lever is adapted to complete the circuit through a contact 27, which is in electric connection with the bridge 21 and a lead 28 taken ofi' the resistance 20 at or near its middle so that for the short period of release of the arm or needle 22 the motor assumes an average speed. On the arm or needle 22-bei-ng again pressed down by the bar 24 the finger 26 will leave the contact 27 and the shunt circuitr again be completed through a part` of the resistance determined by the temperature of the thermo-couple or pyrometer and the consequent position of the arm or needle 22, the motor assuming a speed in accordance with the amount of the resistance thus put in or out of the shunt circuit.

he arm or needle 22 may be arranged to complete the circuit of a magnetic switch when the temperature becomes excessive, the

switch then shutting down the motor and stopping the grate.

Means for reversing temporarily the rotation of the grate is provided either by a reversible motor drive or by a hand crank suitably applied to the driving gear, the motor being uncoupled if desired to facilitate this.

T0 eifect the automatic discharge of the clinker and ash through a Water seal of the depth required for a generator working at the pressures required for efiicient water-gas.

of the annular production, the outer wall h1 pan or trough is provided on the inside with shallow ribs It? which propel the 'cli-nker and ash up the ascending incline of a suitably shaped fixed plough t to the desired place of discharge, verse direction to the plough'so that they tend to lift the clinker and ash.

As will be understood it is fnot essential that all the features herein described should be embodied in'a self-clinkering and selfsteaming generator though in most cases it will be found advantageous.

In another form the revolving grate is enclosed in a gas-tight casing and the clinker and ash are directed by guide pla-tes or the like into one or more pockets from which' they are from time to time emptied through doors at the bottom.

In a construction of this-nature as illustrated by Fig'. 2 of the drawings, the gastight casing 10 extends from the central con# duit 1c' to the bottom of the wall ofthe generator; the grate'cylinder g1 is carried by al circular bottom plate k7 supported by rollers z' and maintained in position by rollers j that bear against an annular depending rib 11; the rollersz' and j are supported in suitable manner from some fixed part such as the casing 10. The rib 11 is formed externally -with teeth engaged by a spur wheel 12 fixed upon a spindle 13 having a worm wheel 14 in the ribs being inclined in the rea blast of air through gear with a worm 15 on the 'shaft of a motor 4. rlhe casing 10 is formed with an internal trough 10a which prevents the ashes from falling down into thel space below .and the overlapping edge of the plate It isY formed with a number of inclined projections /f which tend to revent' the ashes from packing or aecumu ating in the trough 10a and passin over the edge. To revent the passage o air or gas through t e casing 10 and around the edge 'of the plate k1, the latter may alsobe provided with a depending annular plate -16 the lower edge of which ex tends into a de ression 10" .form-ed in the casing around tlliye central conduit lc, which depression contains sand'or other sealing material. 17 is a pocket connected at its upper part to the space around the eccentric cylinder g1 by a horizontal branch fitted with or formed as inclined scraper 18 extending some distance-'over the plate hf, rotation of the plate k and grate cylinder` g1 causing the ash and clinker to be scraped into the pocket 17. The bottom of the pocket is Jfunnelshaped and fitted with a door 17%.

The plate la7 is formed with central opening for the passage of air, a-short tube 18a may be fixed to the plate hl around this opening and extend towards the conduit la. l

The boiler of the generator is connected with a waste heat boiler or other steam supsteam and gas andv deciency in the steam supply from the boiler of the generator for gas making purposes, such deficiency will be automatically suppliedrby the waste heat boiler or other supl p'Illhe Water gas generator is operated in accordance with the customary gas practice now standard, which consists in introducing pipe 104 which passes upward through the fuel bed and escapes through the stack opening in the center of the top thereof. The stack opening is then closed and steam may then be admitted through the pipe 103 and allowed to pass up through the incandescent fuel bed to form blue water gas which escapes through lthe opening 30 near the top of the generator. Steam may then be introduced to the to of the generator through the inlet 102 and down run water gas generated which passes out through outlet 105. An air blast may ythen be made as previously described and this cycle continued or varied in any desired combination to meet the requirements of the articular plant and the local conditions o the gas system which the generator serves..

By the means above described, l attain a safe self-clinkering, self-steaming, and selfcontained boiler or steam generator for water gas production, wherein the temperature of the top ofthe fuel bed is properly maintained, without waste of either hot Water or steam,

Lacasse ,d

from which the ash and canker (with a mini;

mum of unconsumed carbon) issue automatif.

cally and continuously at the bottom, and wherein the boiler is necessarily exposed to merely "nominal pressure, inasmuch as the generator itself consumes all of the steam produced. The topof the heated annular water-leg must be above the clinker adhesion zone for ireibrick (with suitable margin for variations in fuel and operating conditions), and, if desired, it may be extended sufficiently high to provide substantial correspondence between the production of steam and the production of gas, practical regulations being attained by adjusting `the rates of air blowing and steaming and the length and division of the operating cycle, which, however, involves considerable variation in make of gas. To maintain exact correspondence between the supply of steam to the generator and the most ecient generation of water gas, and becausey it is enerally desirable (other things being equal to limit the absorption'of generator heat for steam production to what would otherwise be wasted, for example, to radiai tion, it is more advantageous to connect the high pressure steam service actuating the machinery (preferably supplied from waterheat boilers utilizing the escaping blast gases) with the llow pressure generator service,

through a restricted conduit controlled by a regulated reducing valve, the low ressure service being equipped with a regulated escape lvalve. Where two or more 'genera-tors are in use, their low pressure steam services may be advantageously connected to minimizethe variation in pressure between the steam run and the air blow but this vapartand a `superposed part ofl refractory.A

riatio'n is not wholly objectionable, inasmuch as the steam pressure falls and automatically reduces the rate of steam supplyA as the temperature and consequently the gas-making capacity ofthe fuel bed decreases. Moreover,

the boiler is so proportioned that the evolution of steamlfrom the large content of water heated to the equivalent of the maximum pressure is automatically increased as the pressure and consequently the steaming temperature falls-thus sufficiently compensating for the generators intermitting'demand for steam. While, forpurposes of safety and g economy, I prefer to use the steam from the boiler or steam generator exclusively for its ownv low pressure generator service, it is obvious that the boiler, if suiiiciently strong, may be utilized for high-pressure steam production.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the sameis vto be performed I declare that what I claim is material, means for cooling saidA metal part, a mechanical grate structure comprising an imperforate bottom and an upper portion ex tendin above the bottom'of the cooled metal part oi the wall and having passages through it arranged above the bottom of the cooled metal part, means connected with the interior of the upper partof the grate for conveying down run gas and up run steam, and means for admitting down run steam and for taking oil up run water gas and air blast gas. w v 2. A water gas generator including a fuel chamber having an inner wall consisting of 'a line'tal part and a superposed part of refrac- 4 steam blasting and for admitting own run steam and for taking otl down run water gas `means for absorbing heat arranged `at an -coniined to the lower part of the fuel chamber and means for retaining heat arran ed atand confined to the upper part of the uel chamber vconsisting respectively of a watervessel and a fire-brick wall anda clinker disintegrating mechanical grate having passages confronting the water'vessel.

4. A water gas generator .having a fuel chamber the inner wall of which comprises an upper portion of refractory material superimposed on a lower portion of metal, means for admitting down runy steam and taking oil' uprun water gas and air blast gases in the upper portion of the chamber, a mechanical ash and clinker expelling grate having ports for the passage of down run Water gas and air and steam, means for admitting air vand steam to the grate, and means lfor withdrawing down run water gas, said rate and said metal wall being so arranged that the wall extends downward at least to the level of the lowest ports of the. rate.

ARTHUR G. GLAS OW.

roo

1. A water gas generator having a fuel. I

Ichamber of which the inner wall presents a continuous surface and comprises a metal lao 

